Biodiversity loss has been among the central topics in public, policy, and scientific debate for several decades. While its accelerating pace and impacts are well recognised, translating the vast amounts of biodiversity data into reliable indicators that can inform policy remains a challenge, requiring considerable time and technical effort.

That’s where B-Cubed comes in. You can learn all about our project results from our legacy booklet.

From individual observations to species occurrence cubes

B-Cubed designed, developed and deployed a service to create “species occurrence cubes”. It is provided by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and allows users to aggregate a vast amount of species occurrence data (i.e. when and where species have been observed) into custom downloads. This facilitates the creation of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and indicators, aiding biodiversity management and policy decisions.

What is a species occurrence cube?

Occurrence data cubes are standardised structures, often stored as flat tables, that encode biodiversity records as multidimensional data (typically species × location × time) with occurrence measures (e.g., counts). For example, an occurrence cube can tell us the exact occurrences of a Bombus humilis in Belgium between 2012–2022. In that way, species occurrence cubes support consistent indicator reporting and efficient assessment of biodiversity change for decision-making.

How are species occurrence cubes created?

Cubes are produced using the GBIF website, the GBIF API, or by using the GBIF occurrence data deposited on external cloud services. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Go to GBIF.org 

Step 2: Log in / register

Step 3: Go to occurrence search and look for the data you want to include in your cube

Step 4: Choose cube as the desired download format

Step 5: Define the cube’s dimensions

Step 6: Download your cube

That’s it. You now have a species occurrence cube. If you need a more in-depth tutorial, advanced explanations for each step can be found on our tutorial page. 

How can occurrence cubes benefit biodiversity policy?

Cubes harmonise observations collected at different scales and resolutions, account for uncertainty, and retain much more information than traditional coarse-grid methods. This makes it easy to:

• identify patterns across species, locations, and time;

• convert highly diverse, uneven, and spatially uncertain species occurrence records into a coherent and lighter format suitable for analysis and modelling;

• integrate occurrence data with environmental and landscape data with the same scale and resolutions.

By better matching the scale and resolution, species occurrence cubes can aid users in building more robust models of species distribution and biodiversity change, improve biodiversity baselines, and monitor changes over time.

We would love to hear your feedback on B-Cubed’s species occurrence cubes, so feel free to email us at info@b-cubed.eu, or raise an issue on the occurrence cube GitHub page.